St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Dec. 17. The hospital said in a statement it has been experiencing financial difficulties “in a health care environment with increasing costs and decreasing revenues.”

“With continued declines in reimbursement from Medicaid, one of our largest payers, we could no longer continue in business as a stand-alone hospital,” the hospital said.

St. Francis, sponsored by the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities, is remaining open during bankruptcy proceedings and said it will continue to provide full services to those in the community.

The hospital, which is just a few weeks away from celebrating its 100th birthday on Feb. 17, intends to sell its assets as part of a court-approved sale process. Following any sale St. Francis Hospital will cease to exist as an independent entity. St. Francis is just the latest in a string of Catholic hospitals and health care facilities throughout the archdiocese that have either closed or filed for Chapter 11 in the last few years.

“The Cardinal has been very concerned about the fact that we recently lost Benedictine Hospital in Kingston,” said Dr. Karl Adler, the Archbishop’s delegate for health care, told CNY Jan. 7.

“Now to lose the other major health care facility in the Hudson Valley, St. Francis, we’re very dismayed we’re potentially losing a Catholic hospital in Poughkeepsie,” he added.

Dr. Adler said however that ArchCare, the archdiocesan health care system, is pursuing as many avenues as it can to acquire the bankrupt hospital’s home care component, which he said was consistent with ArchCare’s mission to care for the elderly and the disabled. ArchCare is currently trying to find a partner and is “pursuing as many avenues as it can,” he said. Expressions of interest were due by Friday, Jan. 10.

“We’re trying to find a way of not abandoning the Hudson Valley, whatever mechanism is possible to continue that component of St. Francis’s mission.”